Hi, I'm kind of new to these forums so I'll try and cut the question short.

I'm currently trying to study JKD by myself cuz there aren't any schools or classes that teaches JKD here in Thailand, and if there is, it's a McDojo. Now, I am experienced in other arts, mostly Muay Boran (Ancient Muay Thai) and a chinese art called "San Shou Kuai Jiao", or chinese wrestling.

Well, my friend told me to forget it cuz books won't help, but from my viewpoint, it does and I'm not trying to copy Bruce Lee cuz what worked for him may not work for me. Well, what I use to study most of the time is the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

Do you think that studying by yourself is possible or do you need a teacher? What's the pro and cons?

-Tai out!

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I got two fists.. Don't make me use my head as well!

As your next door neighbor, I do not believe a JKD McDojo or any other flavor-of-the-month manifestations thereof can survive in Thailand; it will be laughed out of existence; you did say 'IF there is', however.

You also say what works for BL may not work for you; then why are you studying him / his methods for?

And I thought Muay Boran is Burmese?

You have also studied 'Shuai Jiao'

By all accounts you are pretty experienced and yet asked such a fundamental question.......I wonder.......

I'm kinda fed up with the "In this situation you do this" teaching so I thought, why not try and study by myself. And when I looked around I found JKD. BL's style just fascinated me, he wasn't doing something awkward to himself while fighting, he was "alive".

I tried searching for a JKD school here in Bangkok and I did find one. It was a Tajiquan/Wushu school that offered JKD classes, but when I went there it was totally different from what BL taught. So I decided not to enroll.

Anyway, I'm going to try and study by myself using the fundamentals set down by the "Tao of JKD".

Lots of thanks to Leo_E_49 for the links. I'm going to check them out.

As for ButterflyPalm, forgive me if I sound sarcastic. Muay Boran originated from Thailand. Different from Muay Thai, Muay Boran has throws, locks and a lot more standing moves that involves "climbing" on your opponent. Maybe you heard of the movies "Ong Bak" or "Tom Yum Goong"?

Burmese boxing aka Bando, is similar to Muay Thai but I don't know much about this one except I heard rumours that headbutts and biting is a part of the system. Need to verify this one.

Anyway, I've spoken to much for today, but yet again, thanks

-Taison out!

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I got two fists.. Don't make me use my head as well!

Quote: when I went there it was totally different from what BL taught. Muay Boran originated from Thailand.

BL's "JKD" has gone through so many people's interpretation (mostly by people who have not met him) for the past 30 odd years that I think even if BL were to do a second coming, he will be surprised as well. It was his own fault really, when he said it was a system with no system; at the time he died, I believe it was still a work-in-progress as there consists of training notes and "thoughts"; so anyone with a good imagination can always "interpret" You yourself will be doing some interpretation sooner or later. When a system is not "systematised" it will break down to just free-fighting eventually. A system with no kata may end up like this.

Interesting, today I found out about this guy, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace. Amazing, he's been a kickboxing champ for a long time, and during that time he did exactly what Bruce had been doing, except Bill used his left leg. Only. He claimed he wasn't able to kick with the right, so he used his left leg to kick.

Now the interesting thing is he would raise the left leg and fake a high, do side kick to middle, then fake high again and thrust through the opponent's guard. That's almost exactly what BL used to do with his hands. And the incredible thing is, both BL and Wallace stood almost in the same stance[Wallace is more of the traditional horse stance] and uses the same parries.

Maybe, I may incorporate what Wallace developed into my JKD.

Anyway, thanks to all of you, and I hope you're able to help me again if I come up with a question.

-Taison out!

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I got two fists.. Don't make me use my head as well!

I believe BL used a combination of foot and hand; one to distract / feign, the otber to attack. The biggest problem with any sort of sparring or actual fighting is how not to commit or over-commit oneself when initiating an attack; which was why some old karate master once said -- 'there are no first attack in karate' This may sound like pacifism at work. But I believe that at the back of his mind it is "better" to wait for an attack and counter, then to attack first and let a good counter get you. Note the words "first attack" So BL got all these destracting / feigning moves to overcome this problem. Mind you, BL did not invent it; he just publicised it more at a time when the Western public was just getting to know more of the Eastern MA.

All you need to do jkd. Is to take what you've learned and modify it. Think to yourself: Is there a way i can improve what i've learned?Can i make it faster? More powerful?Can i recover from this technique quicker?Is it the best thing i can do in this situation?Can i make my reach longer?In fact, If you follow the jkd principles, then no matter what "style" you've studied and amended, Ultimately you should emerge with the exact same fighting system. The reason for this is because you will aspire to attain the most efficient fighting system, because of the shape and abilities or your body, there can't be any other way

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Sticks n stones'll break my bones, but if I land the first one, you're in trouble!

Hello. Sifu Mark Stewart teaches JKD in Bangkok, Thailand. Sifu Stewart is a full instructor under Sifu Ted Wong. Here is his web site: http://www.i-jkd.com/schedule.htmlIf you don't live in Bangkok you should try emailing him. Maybe he can recommend you to a qualified JKD instructor.